Steppe Nomads and Russian Identity: The (In)Visibility of Scythians, Mongols and Cossacks in Russian History and Memory by Katherine A. Maximick BA, from the University of Victoria, 2006 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History © Katherine A. Maximick, 2009 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Steppe Nomads and Russian Identity: The (In)Visibility of Scythians, Mongols and Cossacks in Russian History and Memory by Katherine A. Maximick BA, from the University of Victoria, 2006 Supervisory Committee Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, Department of History. Supervisor Dr. Rob Alexander, Department of History. Departmental Member Dr. Nick Galichenko, Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, Department of History Supervisor Dr. Rob Alexander, Department of History Departmental Member Dr. Nick Galichenko, Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies Departmental Member The Russian people and the steppe nomads have maintained a symbiotic relationship for 2600 years that was undeniably fluid; however, for the most part mental and sometimes physical barriers have been erected in Russian society and historiography in an attempt to deny or suppress many aspects of Russia’s “Asian” features or historical past. This thesis aims to bring to light the fluidity and cross-cultural exchanges of this relationship, the substantial influences of steppe societies on Russian society and history, as well as to examine the motives and ideologies behind Russia’s anti-nomadic sentiments that ultimately shaped and censored Russian national history. The invaluable benefits of nomadic and steppe customs in Russian society and on Russian identity have previously been ignored, dismissed or downplayed in Russian historiography, and revisionist historians hope to reverse this and introduce the concept that the rise of the Russian nation would not have been possible without the influence of steppe nomadic societies. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee...................................................................................................................ii Abstract...........................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................v Dedication.......................................................................................................................................vi Introduction......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1........................................................................................................................................18 Chapter 2 .......................................................................................................................................43 Chapter 3 .......................................................................................................................................78 Epilogue.......................................................................................................................................108 Bibliography................................................................................................................................110 v Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my immense gratitude to Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, whose insightful knowledge, patience and encouragement enabled me to see the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that is thesis work. As I prepare to move forward in my scholastic life, it has become quite clear to me that Serhy has been the most influential figure in my academic career during my long enrolment at the University of Victoria. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Rob Alexander, Dr. Megan Swift and Dr. Nick Galichenko for their invaluable assistance, advice and companionship over the years. A substantial thank-you is owed to Dr. Elizabeth Vibert for not only her assistance with financial applications and research proposals, but also for her belief that I could aim higher than I thought possible and truly hit the mark. I also must acknowledge our graduate secretary Heather Waterlander for her priceless advice and the tireless work that she does every day to make graduate life operate as efficiently as possible. Thank you to both the History and Germanic and Slavic Studies departments at UVic for their academic and financial support. I would also like to recognize that the successful and early completion of my thesis would not have been possible without the significant financial assistance from the University of Victoria. Finally, I must thank my friends and family for supporting me throughout the years. vi This thesis is dedicated to my parents. Thank you for believing in me. 1 Introduction Since the first mention of Slavs in the historical record, nomadic peoples have interacted with them, on good terms or bad, up to the present day. The “Scythian plowmen” described by Herodotus in the fifth century BCE are now widely accepted by historians to portray a group of proto-Slavs living in the borderlands of the steppes. Those who ruled and possibly lived amongst these Slavs and sold them as slaves to the Persians were the Scythians, one of the most successful nomadic warring peoples to terrorize the ancient world. According to the Russian historian B.A. Rybakov, it was during this period that the first oral heroic epics appeared, describing mighty defenders of the Slavic land against steppe invaders like the Scythians and later Sarmatians.1 For the next 2000 years, Slavs would encounter many other nomadic groups roaming the steppe as well as the many problems that came with them; the steppe, a Eurasian highway, brought with it raiders, diseases, terrifying armies, enslavers and the invaluable silk route. However negative the portrayals of these nomads have been in Russian chronicles, literature and historical records, the nomads ironically contributed greatly to the Slavic, Muscovite and Russian societies – most significantly to the Russian identity. By ‘othering’ nomads, as well as other minorities in their empire, Russians were able to define themselves by defining their own culture against those who were not Russian. The Mongols would not only shape Muscovite autocracy, governmental institutions and military organization, but they would ultimately strengthen the relationship between Russians and their faith, which resulted in the inseparable link between Russian identity and the Orthodox Church. Much later, another group of semi-nomadic people 1 Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, Russian Identities: A Historical Survey, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 15. 2 would play the most crucial role in Russian self-identity. The image of the Cossack would somehow transcend the terrible experience of the Soviet regime to become the leading symbolic figure of the Russian people, as well as their history, in post-Soviet times. For as long as the Eurasian steppe has been in existence, groups of nomads have wandered its endless grassy expanses in search of sufficient pasture to sustain their herds and, simultaneously, settled peoples have lived on its edges, protected by the forests but taking advantage of the rich soil it offered them in their agricultural pursuits. The image of the solitary, pensive nomad mounted on a shaggy horse comes to mind, but this compassionate, objective image would hardly be recognizable (or, even, correct) to a person living on the edges of the steppe. To them, the nomad represents usually one of two things. The first is something alien, backwards and unpredictable, something that has terrorized the bordering forestland of the steppe for 2600 years. The second is that courageous free spirit galloping across the open steppes without the mundane concerns of the urban, material life weighing down his thoughts. It is understandable that these images of the nomad have developed along the steppe frontier, as well as beyond it, as a result of the destruction brought about by Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Mongols and Cossacks. Later, romantic sentiments were aroused by the independent and natural lifestyle lived by them. The relationship between the sedentary and the pastoral environments is symbiotic, as is that between the settled and the nomadic peoples who live within those environments.2 This relationship can be advantageous and destructive for both civilizations and, like most long-term relationships, experiences periods of peace and tension. Despite the complexity of all relationships, historians have been unchallenged in their unbearable bias and antagonism towards 2 Rene Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, trans. by Naomi Walford (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), ix. 3 nomadic peoples and their relationship with ‘civilized’ peoples until very recently in modern historiography in regards to their relationship with ‘civilized peoples.’ Whether they